Terence Fisher is an English film director known for a number of classic horror films that he made for the company Hammer Films.
Fisher broke through with the films The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958), whose bloody effects and erotic glow was a significant innovation for the horror genre. Both films, Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee in the lead roles, the international smash hits and film history began the second great wave of horror films.
Terence Fisher's style has often been compared to Alfred Hitchcock, and like this it was the French critics, who first drew attention to the auteur grades in Fisher's films. Originally, the mauling of the English film reviewers in a way which today can be difficult to understand.
"There is the danger of over preparation, of loss of spontaneity; over rehearsal is the most terrible thing you can imagine. We do have a very close association between costume and set designer, though. And the cameraman is very important, of course"
"The written word is the basic of everything. Most important, the idea, and after that, the dialogue. You can rehash the dialogue as you go along, it 's disgraceful to have to do this, but now and again you have no choice"
"We're not as materialistic and income-tax conscious as we think. At the moment our superstitions are tucked away, but come out sometimes in strange ways sex crimes, black masses"
"Do I believe in the supernatural? Oh yes, certainly. I can't believe, I can't accept that you die and that's the end. Physically maybe it is a fact. But there's something about the mind that's more than that"
"The reflection of the flame in the glass seems to be touching the hand. And you feel the helpless fear of these dismembered parts. This sort of thing can hardly be visualized at the script stage"
"The process is very gradual, you see. At first there's the tainted stage; they know what will eventually happen to them if they go on but they say, 'Oh God, don't do it to me do it again, please, please.'"
"He 's ruthless only because of his ideals. Unfortunately he doesn't succeed. The thing fails and gets out of hand and takes charge of him. Idealism is the only excuse he could have and it's a great excuse"
"Certainly Dracula did bring a hell of a lot of joy to a hell of a lot of women. And if this erotic quality hadn't come out we'd have been very disappointed"
"One blob of red in the wrong place and the audience isn't looking at the hero, they're looking at a patch of curtain (or something similar) and your whole effect is lost"
